There are known particle beam microscopes, which are configured to scan a focused primary electron beam across a region of the object surface and to detect particles, which are emitted from an interaction region where the scanning primary electron beam interacts with the object.
Depending on the detector system that is used, the detected particles are backscattered electrons and/or secondary electrons. The backscattered electrons are electrons, which are backscattered from the object. The secondary electrons are object particles, which are emitted from the object by the impact of the primary electron beam.
The backscattering coefficient of the backscattered electrons is significantly dependent on the atomic number of the material located at the impingement location of the electron beam. As a consequence, electron microscopic images, which are generated by detecting backscattered electrons, typically show regions of different material composition.
However, it has shown, that using these images, it is not possible to reliably determine material properties in the interaction regions of the scanned electron beam with the object.
Hence, it is desirable, to provide a method and a particle beam microscope, which allow to obtain reliable data about material properties of the object.